President Barack Obama paid his tribute on the White House Facebook page while mourners, including U2 singer Bono and film director George Lucas, gathered yesterday at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium to pay tribute to Silicon Valley entrepreneur Dave Goldberg.

Goldberg, the doting husband of Sheryl Sandberg, died after slipping on a treadmill and hitting his head while on holiday with his family in Mexico.

Mexican authorities said in an autopsy report he suffered a head injury after going to the gym at the Punta Mita resort but ruled out any foul play in the 47-year-old's death.

Minneapolis-born Goldberg was CEO of SurveyMonkey but he was also known for being Sheryl Goldberg's husband, who is Facebook's Chief Operating Officer, the second highest position in the company behind founder Mark Zuckerberg.

She honoured her Vikings-loving husband for propelling her in her stellar career at Google and Facebook, in her best-selling book, 'Lean In', which is about championing women's equal rights in the workplace.

In a Facebook post, she wrote: "Dave was my rock. We had 11 truly joyful years of the deepest love, happiest marriage, and truest partnership that I could imagine."

President Obama wrote on the White House Facebook page: "His skills as an entrepreneur created opportunity for many; his love for his family was a joy to behold, and his example as a husband and father was something we could all learn from."

Former Yahoo President Sue Decker said: "He was a perfect cross between a teddy bear and a tiger."

Goldberg married Sandberg in 2004 and they have two children. He was a former executive at Capitol Records before starting Launch Media to publish a digital music magazine. He also ran music programs for Yahoo and worked at Benchmark Capital, a Silicon Valley venture firm.